Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor have won the 12 Hours of Sebring, the second round of the IMSA Sportscar Championship in 2025, completing a 1-2 for Porsche.

The three, in the #7 Porsche, fought off a fierce, race-long challenge from the #31 Cadillac and their teammates in the sister #6 machine.

Dries Vanthoor started the #24 BMW on pole but very quickly got a drive through penalty for a start procedure infringement. With the Porsche second and third, after Mathieu Jaminet passed Tom Blomqvist’s #60 MSR Acura shortly after the start, they were promoted to a 1-2 — which, ironically, was how they’d finish — with Blomqvist third.

With D. Vanthoor now having dropped back to amid the LMP2 field after serving the penalty, Nasr now led from Jaminet.

While the Brazilian was able to eek out a small gap over his teammate, it was only up top 1.5 seconds by the time the second full course yellow of the race was called, at a couple of minutes before an hour had elapsed.

Cautions dominate early hours

The first full course caution was just a few minutes in, to recover two LMP2 cars, the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca of Tobi Lutke and the #88 AF Corse Oreca of Luis Perez Companc, who had gone into the barriers together at turn 3.

Whereas the first was just a ‘short yellow’, with the pits not opening, the second was a longer caution period with the pit lane opening.

It had been caused by Ricky Taylor, in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, making contact with the #023 Triarsi Ferrari 296 GT3 of Charles Scardina. The Ferrari went off track and hit the barriers front-on, with enough force to move the concrete block back a metre or so. 

Regardless, most GTPs pitted under the caution. But the leading Porsches and Acuras did not, pitting a few laps later and losing track position as the cars had been bunched up behind the safety car. It later transpired that a mistake by race control meant the pits had not been open when they first passed it under caution, despite opening moments later for the cars behind them. This dropped all four cars to mid-way down through the GTP field.

At the restart, the #63 Lamborghini SC63 of Romain Grosjean led, but would drop back at the restart as they had taken a wave through when they weren’t supposed to have done. This put Jack Aitken, in the #31 Cadillac, into the lead, with Louis Deletraz in the #40 WTR Cadillac second and Renger van der Zande third in the #93 Acura.

Nasr moved up quickly to fourth, but it wasn’t long before another caution was called, with Lutke in the #18 Era car crashing heavily at Sunset Bend, the final corner.

Immediately after the restart another caution was called, this time for the #99 AO Racing Oreca LMP2 of PJ Hyett, who had crashed at turn 1.

Rookie Vesti leads at Sebring

The GTPs pitted at this point, two hours into the race, with Frederik Vesti now in the leading #31 Cadillac, Alex Palou second in the #93 Acura, and Laurens Vanthoor taking over from Felipe Nasr in the #6 Porsche.

Vesti, an endurance racing and sportscar rookie in his first competitive outing at Sebring, fended Palou, a three-time Indycar champion and general motorsport star, and L. Vanthoor, a sportscar veteran, off admirably. The Dane led the race maintaining a gap to the cars behind for the next hour and a half.

“That was honestly one of the most fun races that I’ve ever done; obviously, it’s not done yet,” he said after his stint. 

“The stints were really good and we’re really pleased with the car as well.  I knew we had a good car and this gives us a lot of confidence the rest of the race. Now it’s time to chill and my great teammates will do the job and I’ll be back in the car later. Good job by all.”

Earl Bamber replaced Vesti at the wheel, but as is common at Sebring, the fifth FCY of the race, in under five hours, was called. This time it was a GTP in trouble — Brendon Hartley had crashed the #40 WTR Cadillac at Sunset, similar to what Lutke did a couple of hours previously.

The rest of the GTP field pitted, with Colin Braun in the #60 Acura jumping the Cadillac in the pits to take the lead, with Tandy in the #7 Porsche third.

Porsche take control

Braun retained the lead for a short while after the restart, but Bamber soon overhauled him to take it back, shortly before the end of the fifth hour. Braun then dropped back through the top end of the field, with Yelloly, in the sister #93 Acura, second, having jumped his countryman Tandy earlier on. Tandy now sat third behind Yelloly, almost four seconds behind Bamber and two off Yelloly.

This is the way the order stayed until the next pitstops, when Tandy handed back over to Nasr. Van der Zande, who had replaced Yelloly in the #93 Acura, then got a penalty for a pitstop infringement, dropping him back to sixth and promoting Nasr to second.

Nasr gradually closed the six second gap to Bamber, and almost bang on the half way mark, overtook the Kiwi for the lead.

For the next three hours, this was the way the order stayed, with the #7 Porsche out in front and the #31 chasing. Bamber was replaced by Aitken mid way through the sixth hour, but the Briton-Korean wasn’t able to catch Nasr out in front, who gradually grew the lead from six second to 12 by the end of the hour.

Behind these two was the sister #6 Porsche, initially with Jaminet behind the wheel, then Kevin Estre. The challenge from the Acuras and the BMWs was rapidly fading, with Robin Frijns fourth in the #25 BMW and Scott Dixon fifth in the #60, mid way through the seventh hour. 

They were, however, dropping off the back of the two Porsches sandwiching the Cadillac. Laurens Vanthoor now led, with Aitken having closed the gap to just over two seconds as the sun began its descent in the sky over Sunset Bend.

Vanthoor subsequently responded to Aitken catching him and re-extended the gap, up to eight seconds by the end of the hour, with four left to run.

At the next stops, though, Action Express and Cadillac were quicker than Penske and Porsche, with Vesti now back in the car and under a second back from L. Vanthoor.

The race’s next caution, the sixth of the race, then neutralised proceedings; the #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie had spun at Sunset Bend. Ross Gunn, behind the wheel of the Heart of Racing-run car, was able to get it going again, but not before race control called a caution.

Crunch time at Sebring

At the restart, there were now under three hours left to run — crunch time.

Vesti now lead from Tandy, having taken the lead at the pitstops under caution. Tandy passed him, and was scored as the leader, for one lap, but Vesti got back by, and was able to extend a short but manageable gap, around two seconds, amid the constant slower traffic around the old airfield.

Near the top of the 10th hour of the race, with two to go, Tandy passed Vesti. The Dane would pit shortly after, to be replaced by Earl Bamber.

However, the Kiwi’s former teammate at Porsche, Mathieu Jaminet, passed the Cadillac at turn 7, solidifying Porsche’s 1-2.

However, this was where Porsche’s strategy brilliance would come into play. The German manufacturer had realised earlier that they’d need to save fuel, with both cars, or risk having to make a splash and dash for fuel in the final hour.

Thus, the drivers were instructed to save, while maintaining track position. This they did, eliminating the need for a final stop, making their last stops of the race with just under an hour to go.

However, the #31 Cadillac, and the Action Express team, had chosen a different strategy, which would require a fuel stop late on, after the Porsches had stopped for the final time.

This, arguably, cost Cadillac the race. Bamber pitted under the final caution, with the team refueling the car to the end and also fitting new rubber. The #25 BMW of Robin Frijns also did the same thing.

But, the Porsches did not, having saved fuel earlier. Likewise, the #93 Acura, with Meyer Shank Racing also having noticed this need to save fuel earlier on, did not stop, and moved up to third at the expense of Bamber and Frijns.

Bamber and Frijns exited the pits under caution in fifth and sixth, behind the #5 Proton Porsche of Neel Jani in fourth, who also had not stopped. Bamber passed Jani with 12 minutes to go, but Frijns was gifted fifth when Jani, who had been trying to make his fuel last, pitted with just minutes to go, dropping him to sixth.

And that was the way the race finished, with Nasr taking the flag, 2.2 seconds ahead of his teammate Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 Porsche. Nick Yelloly was third in the #93 Acura, while Bamber took fourth. Frijns was fifth, and Jani the last car on the lead lap in sixth. 

Inter Europol claim victory in LMP2

In LMP2, the #43 Inter Europol Oreca of Tom Dillmann, Jeremy Clarke, and Bijoy Garg took the victory, prevailing after a fierce, race-long fight with the #8 Tower Motorsport Oreca, #11 TDS Racing Oreca, and #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca to prevail.

In some ways they were gifted the win by young Malthe Jakobsen, a Peugeot factory driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship, making an error and punting a GTD car late on in the race with just 10- minutes remaining. 

As always in IMSA, he copped an incident responsibility penalty for his trouble, and dropped from the lead to sixth, where he’d finish.

Second behind Dillmann, who crossed the line to take the flag in the #43 Inter Europol car, was Sebastien Bourdais in the #8 Tower machine. 

They fought hard all race, leading for significant periods, but in the end Bourdais was not able to overcome Dillmann, finishing just over a second behind his countryman.

Third was Mikkel Jensen in the #11 TDS Oreca. Steven Thomas started the car on pole but over the race distance, didn’t quite have the pace to challenge for victory, along with Jensen and Thomas’ teammate Hunter McElrea. 

Jensen crossed the line four and a half seconds behind Dillmann, after pushing hard in the final stint.

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Porsche’s Nick Tandy leads at Sebring with just 2 hours to go, as things start to get serious with the race now under full darkness.

Tandy, in the #7 Porsche, has just overtaken the #31 Cadillac of Frederik Vesti, with a daring move going into the fast final corner, Sunset, with Vesti almost putting the Porsche into wall as he defended.

Tandy’s teammate Matt Campbell is third in the sister #6 Porsche.

Since the half way mark, the race ran cleanly for some time, but two full course yellows neutralised the race for a significant period. The first was for Casper Stevenson in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, who had spun at Sunset Bend, the final corner.

The other FCY was immediately after, with the race green for mere seconds. Mathias Perez Companc had spun, also an Sunset, and hit the wall hard in the #88 AF Corse Oreca, with the car out on the spot and craned over the wall.

The race so far has been a dogfight between the #31 Cadillac and the #7 Porsche, and it shows no sign of stopping yet. Behind the top 3 is Renger van der Zande in the #93 Acura ARX-06, with Tristan Vautier in the #5 Proton Porsche in fifth.

In LMP2, Rasmus Lindh in the #22 United Autosports Oreca leads, with Toby Sowery second in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca second, less than a second back. Sebastien Bourdais is third in the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca, around 7 seconds back.

Dan Harper leads in GTD PRO for BMW, with the #48 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3 Evo driver around four seconds ahead of Klaus Bachler in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R. And in GTD, Parker Thompson is out in front in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, with Indy Dontje second in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Third in class is Tom Sargent in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche.

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Earl Bamber leads for Cadillac with four hours gone in the 12 Hours of Sebring, after a hectic opening couple of hours has calmed into a stable rhythm.

Dries Vanthoor lead from pole in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, but got a drive-through penalty for a start procedure infringement. After this, Porsche’s Felipe Nasr inherited the lead, and stayed there for the majority of the opening couple of hours. 

Nasr and Porsche lost the lead at a pitstop under caution, when the leaders couldn’t pit as the pit lane was closed. This gave the lead to Vesti’s teammate Jack Aitken, who in due turn handed over to teammate Frederik Vesti.

Vesti retained the lead during his stint, sustaining a reasonable gap to Acura’s Alex Palou, and has since handed over to Earl Bamber, who now leads the race.

“That was honestly one of the most fun races that I’ve ever done; obviously, it’s not done yet,” said Vesti after getting out of the car.

“The stints were really good and we’re really pleased with the car as well.  I knew we had a good car and this gives us a lot of confidence the rest of the race. 

“Now it’s time to chill and my great teammates will do the job and I’ll be back in the car later. Good job by all.”

The Acuras, with Colin Braun in the #60 and Nick Yelloly, replacing Palou in the #93, are behind Bamber, with Braun two seconds off and Yelloly a further four.

Fourth is Porsche’s Nick Tandy, in the #7 car, with his teammate Kevin Estre in the #6 behind him. Tristan Vautier is behind in the #5 Proton Competition Porsche, while Kevin Magnussen is eighth in the #24 car, which D. Vanthoor started on pole.

TDS, BMW, Lexus lead other classes

Mikkel Jensen leads LMP2 in the #11 TDS Racing car, which Steven Thomas started on pole. Second is #2 United Autosports Oreca of Ben Hanley, with his teammate Rasmus Lindh in the United Autosports sister car, the #22.

Madison Snow is out in front in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 in GTD PRO, while Nico Varrone is second, four seconds adrift, in the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. 

Jesse Krohn, in the sister #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW, is third. Fourth is Giacomo Altoé in the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, which started the race on pole, although Albert Costa has just climbed into that car.

Finally, in GTD, Parker Thompson leads in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Lilou Wadoux is second in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, while third is Brendan Iribe in the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari.

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BMW’s Dries Vanthoor took his second IMSA pole of the year in as many races, with the Belgian setting a 1:47.091 onboard the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8.

Acura MSR’s Tom Blomqvist was second fastest, 0.025 off D. Vanthoor, with Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche 963 third.

The session started with an early red flag, as the #31 Action Express, Whelen-sponsored Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken breaking down early on.

The car pulled out of the pitlane slowly, and then stopped, before Aitken power cycled it in an attempt to get it going again. He wasn’t successful, though, with the car only moving very slowly out of turn 1.

He eventually stopped the car at turn 2/3, with marshals coming to tow the car around the track. They pulled off on the back straight, into the old pit lane, with just minutes left in the session and no representative times set. That said, IMSA did an extra minute onto the session in order to get competitive times on the board.

With just a few minutes left to set times, the race was on. Nasr, Blomqvist and D. Vanthoor were immediately on it, with Nasr initially fastest from Blomqvist and D. Vanthoor.

However, on his next lap, the BMW driver set his pole lap, 1:47.091, which proved unbeatable for Blomqvist. The Briton did another lap but came up short, just a couple of hundredths off, and will start the 12 hour race second.

Nasr and his teammate in the #6 Porsche, Mathieu Jaminet, made it a 3-4 for the German manufacturer, while Neel Jani in the #5 Proton Competition Porsche was fifth. 

Sixth was the sister #60 MSR Acura of Renger van der Zande, while Louis Deletraz and Ricky Taylor put the remaining Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs seventh and eighth.

Thomas and Hyett duke it out in LMP2

Steven Thomas was fastest in LMP2, onboard the #11 TDS Racing Oreca, with the American setting a 1:51.804.

He was 0.115 faster than PJ Hyett, who was behind the wheel of the #99 AO Racing Oreca, with the fastest United Autosports car of Nick Boulle third, 0.640 off the pace.

Thomas and Hyett had an almighty battle all through the session, with each setting fastest laps to top the field. Hyett was fastest initially once the tyres were up to pace, with a 1:53.3, but Thomas soon beat him with a 1:52.8. 

The AO Racing team owner then went seven tenths quicker, but Thomas was the first to break into the 1:51s, with his eventual pole lap. Hyett soon followed him, but was just over a tenth short of beating the TDS driver.

With Boulle third, Daniel Goldburg made it a United Autosports second row, just under two tenths slower than his teammate. Fifth was Tobi Lutke in the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca, 1.140 off Thomas on pole.

READ MORE: Ferrari on pole in GTD Pro and GTD at Sebring

See here for full classification of qualifying results.

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Albert Costa put his #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 on pole in GTD PRO, with a 1:59.131 from the Spanish driver.

Second was Lauren Heinrich in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R, while third went to Neil Verhagen in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo.

However, GTD-entered Alessandro Pier Guidi was actually quicker in another Ferrari, the #21 machine from AF Corse. 

He took pole in GTD for the Italian team, setting a 1:59.131 to quickest in the 20-car field.

Kenton Koch was second fastest in GTD for Korthoff Motorsports and Mercedes, while third was Jack Hawksworth for Lexus and Vasser Sullivan.

Ferrari factory driver Pier Guidi was quick all session in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, battling with Hawksworth for the top spot. However, Hawksworth could only manage a time almost four tenths off the Italian, with the Briton in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

In between them was Koch, just 0.005 faster than Hawksworth.

Fourth was Phil Ellis in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, well over half a second off Pier Guidi. Fifth was Lorenzo Patrese, onboard the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari, but he was 0.917 off his countryman on class pole.

See here for full classification of qualifying results.

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Wayne Taylor Racing’s switch from Acura to Cadillac machinery doesn’t make the job of defending the team’s Sebring win from last year that much harder, Jordan Taylor told reporters.

“I don’t think it changes much. We’ve had a long history at this race. I think our first 12 hour was 2014 as a team. So a lot of history at the track in the event that we can rely on changing manufacturer,” said Taylor, in response to a question asked by Motorsport Week, on whether the change in manufacturer impacts WTR’s chances of defending the Sebring win harder.

The team, founded by Taylor’s father Wayne Taylor, himself a former racing driver, won Sebring last year with Taylor, Louis Deletraz, and Colton Herta driving the #40 Acura ARX-06.

However, for this year they have switched from Acura to Cadillac, becoming a General Motors factory team for the 2025 IMSA Sportscar Championship.

They previously used Cadillac machinery in the DPi era, so this is in some ways a return to the GM fold after a few years away.

The team’s first race with the Cadillac V-Series.R, at Daytona in January, didn’t go plan. Deletraz crashed the #40 car at turn 1 when the race restarted mid way through the 24 hours, with the car needing to be retired as a result.

The sister #10 car, of Filipe Albuquerque, Brendon Hartley, Will Stevens and Ricky Taylor, J. Taylor’s brother, finished fifth, a lap down.

A learning process with Cadillac

“[There’s] a lot to learn, but I think with this class being around for three years now, the Cadillac group can kind of bring us up to speed extremely quickly and help from learning the setup side, the systems side, how to strategize all those things when we go to this event,” continued Taylor.

“I think we have a big head start. Let’s say if we got a Cadillac last year, it would have been way more difficult, but I think we’re going into it well prepared.”

Meanwhile, Deletraz said: “I think it’s very interesting to have the switch because you learn from both sides and you can see the good and the bad. 

“We’ve been very fortunate to be well prepared, spend time in the sim, and GM has really brought us up to speed fast. Early in the season, we were still discovering things, but we feel much more ready to go into Sebring. 

“Definitely we keep learning every time we’re out on track, but I wouldn’t say the change is drastic. I think probably in the short term we’ll gain performance by being able to just work all together.”

Deletraz made the decisive move last year with just minutes left in the race, overtaking Sebastien Bourdais, in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, to take the win. He’d previously overtaken Porsche’s Felipe Nasr to move up to second.

With the race starting Saturday 10:10am local time, or 2:10 UTC, we’ll have to see whether Taylor, Deletraz, and their teammate Brendon Hartley, can defend the win for Wayne Taylor Racing, and take the team’s first win back with Cadillac.

READ MORE: Valkyrie GTP debut awaits with 56 entries for 12 Hours of Sebring

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Jose Maria Lopez will replace an injured Ben Barnicoat this weekend for the 12 Hours of Sebring, with Lopez joining Aaron Telitz and Kyle Kirkwood in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

Barnicoat has been injured in a mountain biking crash sometime this week. He appeared on an IMSA-hosted pre-event Zoom call, which Motorsport Week was present for, last Wednesday.

Lopez will make his GTD Pro debut in the IMSA Sportscar Championship at Sebring, but he’s no stranger to the Lexus, having raced it in 2024 and this year in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He also won the WEC title overall, in 2019-2020 and 2021 for Toyota, plus a win at Le Mans in 2021.

He previously raced in the premier IMSA series in 2022, for Cadillac, finishing fifth at Daytona and sixth at Sebring alongside Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller, and his Toyota teammate Kamui Kobayashi.

Lopez and Barnicoat teammates at Qatar

In the WEC season opener at Qatar last month, the Argentinian unfortunately didn’t get to drive in the race. His teammate Petra Umbrarescu made contact with another GT3 car in the opening laps, with the car having to be retired as a result of the damage.

Barnicoat, meanwhile, finished fourth in the sister Lexus, both run by the ASP team. He was scheduled to undertake a dual IMSA-WEC programme this year prior to his injury.

A statement from Lexus on Instagram read as follows:

Lexus factory driver Ben Barnicoat sustained injuries in a mountain biking accident and will be unable to compete in Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Replacing Ben at Sebring will be WEC Lexus teammate and two-time WEC champion José María López.

Wishing you a very speedy recovery and can’t wait to see you back at the track Ben!

It is unclear when Barnicoat will be back in action.

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Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, and Miguel Molina have won the Qatar 1812km, the opening race of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season, completing a Ferrari 1-2-3 for the first time ever in modern WEC history.

The Italian cars dominated the race and led the majority of it with one of the three cars leading for most of the race.

Fuoco crossed the line first in the #50 Ferrari 499P, followed by the yellow ‘satellite’ car, the #83 machine driven by Robert Kubica in the final stint. The Pole was just 2.348 away from Fuoco at the line, but fading tyres meant he couldn’t catch the Ferrari factory driver.

Kubica did, though, fend off another Ferrari factory driver Alessandro Pier Guidi, in the sister #51 car, with Pier Guidi just three tenths behind Kubica’s yellow Ferrari as they crossed the line. Pier Guidi had chased down Kubica in the final hour, with new tyres on the factory car, but couldn’t find a way past, with the 40-year-old defending second brilliantly.

Calado starts strong for Ferrari

The #51 car started from pole with Pier Guidi’s teammate James Calado behind the wheel. Calado retained the lead at the start and fended off a challenge at turn 1 from Nielsen in the sister car, who had jumped Kevin Magnussen in the #15 BMW, with the former F1 driver slipping back from second to third.

Calado, then, led much of the first two and a half hours of the race, only relinquishing it through pit stops. 

Further back, Ferdinand Habsburg went from ninth to fourth on the opening lap in the #35 Alpine A424, while Cadillac’s Will Stevens went the other way. Habsburg unintentionally tagged him on the exit of turn 1 and the #12 Cadillac, with Stevens behind the wheel, dropped from fourth to 12th as a result.

In fifth after the opening laps was Stevens’ teammate, Earl Bamber, in the sister #38 Cadillac.

Calado led for the first hour until he pitted after 34 laps. Nielsen pitted slightly earlier, six seconds adrift of his Ferrari teammate. Behind was Habsburg in the Alpine.

A full course yellow had been called 10 laps before Calado pitted to recover debris, and as the track returned to green, Kevin Magnussen’s speed limiter in the BMW had failed to disengage, causing him to drop from third to ninth, promoting Habsburg into third.

Bamber also came unstuck in the #38 Cadillac, tagging the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of James Cottingham at turn 1 as the Kiwi lapped the McLaren, spinning and losing fourth, dropping to 17th.

Calado stayed in the lead Ferrari for a full two and a bit hours, leading the vast majority of those laps. He finally climbed out, pitting just before a virtual safety car was called, at the start of the third hour, to recover Christian Reid’s stricken #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT, who had spun at turn 9 and was beached in the gravel.

Pitting before the virtual safety car meant their rivals got a strategy jump on them — namely the two JOTA-run factory Cadillacs. Stevens and Bamber pitted when the pit lane was open under VSC, and the Cadillacs emerged in the lead, with Lynn replacing Stevens in the #12 and Bamber’s replacement in the #38, Jenson Button, second. 

Antonio Giovinazzi was now in the former leader, the #51 Ferrari, who was now third, with Antonio Fuoco having replaced Nielsen in the #50 machine in fourth.

Fifth was now Yifei Ye in the yellow #83 AF Corse Ferrari, with #20 BMW’s Robin Frijns sixth and Charles Milesi, who’d taken over from Habsburg, seventh.

Meanwhile, the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid was eighth. The car, which had started 17th with Sebastien Buemi at the wheel, was now in sixth, and had Brendon Hartley at the wheel.

Cadillac disaster

However, as the safety car lights went off to signal an impending restart, disaster for Cadillac and JOTA. Lynn had been staying glued to Button’s gearbox. Button accelerated then braked to warm his tyres before releasing the field, but Lynn misinterpreted this as the restart proper. When Button braked, Lynn went into the back of his teammate.

Both cars immediately pitted, relinquishing the lead back to who else: the #51 Ferrari of Giovinazzi, with Fuoco and Ye behind him, creating a Ferrari 1-2-3.

The Cadillacs, the main challengers to the Ferraris based on pace, were now out the way — Lynn would return to the track on the lead lap but out of the top 10, and would later get a drive through penalty for his trouble, while Button went a lap down and would later drop more laps with associated problems from the crash.

When the safety car came back in, Giovinazzi continued where Calado had left off, maintaining the lead over the sister car. He extended a gap, gradually, over the next stint, but towards the end, Fuoco spun overtaking GT3 traffic and promoted Ye to second and BMW’s Frijns to third, with the Italian dropping to fifth. In fourth, ominously, was the #8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley.

It all came a bit unstuck for Giovinazzi though, at this point. He received a drive through penalty for VSC procedure infringements, dropping into the lower reaches of the top 10, putting Ye in the #83 car into the lead, with Fuoco having recovered to second.

Ye promptly extended a gap to Fuoco, up to 15 seconds at one point, with the two Toyotas of Kobayashi and Hartley now third and fourth.

Ye climbed out at his next stop, and was replaced by Phil Hanson in the yellow Ferrari, the Briton’s first ever race in a Ferrari, with Fuoco’s seat being taken by Miguel Molina in the factory car.

Molina soon began closing down the gap Ye had created, but another safety car was called on the halfway mark, with debris on track on the racing line.

This did the hard work for Molina, putting him mere tenths behind Hanson. However, it wasn’t long before the fourth safety car of the race was called, as the #77 Proton Ford Mustang had caught fire on the pit straight, and pulled over at the right side of turn 1.

When the race went green again, it didn’t take too long for Molina to take the lead off Hanson. He held off Nyck de Vries, now in the #7 Toyota, for second, though, with the Dutchman breathing down his neck and the other Toyota, the #8, now Ryo Hirawaka behind the wheel, not far behind either.

For the most part, the race order at the sharp end stayed like this for the next hour and a half. Molina began building a lead to Hanson, with the Spaniard then handing the #50 car over to Nicklas Nielsen, who continued that work and built a gap of eight seconds. 

Hanson then handed over to Kubica, who gradually got the lead down but not close enough to Molina to fight for the lead.

Toyota move up the order

Behind the two Ferraris, the two Toyotas were duking it out with the BMWs, who had emerged as the chief challengers to the Japanese-German cars, even if neither could challenge the Italian manufacturer in the lead.

Sheldon van der Linde, in the Shell-sponsored #20 car, advanced into third, ahead of Mike Conway, who had replaced Nyck de Vries in the #7 Toyota. 

Behind them, in fifth, was Calado, back in the #51, who was advancing through the field to recover the ground lost after Giovinazzi’s penalties. The Italian had taken two drive-throughs, the latter for pitlane speeding, setting the #51 back considerably from its earlier position.

Kubica, though, was on a mission. At the pitstops he jumped Fuoco, growing a lead of six seconds while Fuoco warmed up his new tyres.

The Italian soon brought this gap down, though, to well under a second, but try as he might, he could not find a way past Kubica.

No matter, though. Kubica had less fuel than the factory car of Fuoco, and would have to stop first. When he did, Fuoco put the hammer down, and emerged six seconds ahead of Kubica when the stops evened out.

There was now an hour to go: crunch time. 

Fuoco, having not got new boots at the stops, had tyre problems, with his left front particularly susceptible to wear. Kubica had treated his tyres kinder, and while he had also not got new rubber, he was able to close that gap down to three seconds.

Behind Kubica, Calado had handed the #51 over to Pier Guidi. The Italian chased down Kubica and got within a few tenths, but like Fuoco earlier, could not find his way past a defensively brilliant Kubica.

And that was the way it stayed, with the three crossing the line in that order to sweep the podium, the yellow “satellite” car sandwiched by the factory-run machines.

Fourth was the #15 BMW of Dries Vanthoor, who had managed to fend off the two Toyotas. In actuality, D. Vanthoor finished considerably ahead, with Buemi eight seconds adrift and Kobayashi less than a second behind his teammate.

Seventh was the sister #20 BMW of Robin Frijns, with Alex Lynn recovering the #12 Cadillac to eighth in the end. Ninth was the first of the Peugeots, the #93 9X8 of Mikkel Jensen, and ninth was the #5 Porsche of Michael Christensen, with Porsche unable to repeat their success here last year.

FULL RACE RESULT

READ MORE: Daniel Juncadella fends off McLaren towards Corvette LMGT3 victory in Qatar

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Phil Hanson leads the 1812km Qatar, the opening race of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, in the ‘customer’ #83 AF Corse Ferrari.

The race is currently under safety car while debris on the racing line is cleared up, after Nico Varrone, in the #99 Proton Porsche 963, is cleared up after he ran over a kerb and lost bodywork.

Before the safety car, the Briton was 13 seconds ahead of factory Ferrari driver Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari 499P, while the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Nyck de Vries is third.

Molina’s Ferrari teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, in the #51 Ferrari, was leading the race but the #51 has come unstuck by two drive-through penalties. One was for an earlier virtual safety car infringement, while another was for pitlane speeding, both when Giovinazzi was at the wheel. 

The cars have pitted under virtual safety car, with the safety car, which always comes out after virtual safety car in WEC, now collecting the cars back up.

Ryo Hirakawa, in the #8 Toyota, is behind his teammate in fourth. In fifth is Rene Rast in the #20 BMW M Team WRT, while Norman Nato is sixth in the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R, which was delayed after the Cadillac clash earlier on.

In LMGT3, Marino Sato in the #95 United Autosports McLaren 7290S GT3 Evo leads. The two United Autosports McLarens have been near the front all race, having started 1-2 on the grid, but they’ve had stiff competition, including from the #78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3.

While Ben Barnicoat, in the #78 Lexus, sits seventh in class at the moment, the car has led significant periods of the race. Currently second behind the safety car is the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Mattia Drudi.

Third is the #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Daniel Juncadella, while fourth goes to the sister #59 United Autosports McLaren of Sebastien Baud. Fifth is Kelvin van der Linde in the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo.

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Ferrari factory drivers James Calado and Nicklas Nielsen lead the 1812km Qatar with an hour gone, with both enjoying a small lead over the rest of the field.

Nielsen, in the #50 Ferrari 499P, took second off Kevin Magnussen, in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, at the start. The Dane tried to challenge Calado, who started the sister #51 Ferrari on pole, but couldn’t quite manage it.

Since then, the two have led the race, with Nielsen enjoying a gap of around seven seconds to Julien Andlauer, who pitted early off-kilter with everyone.

He has just under a second on the #20 BMW of Robin Frijns, the car which was started by Rene Rast.

Fifth is the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, the satellite effort, of Robert Kubica.

Magnussen’s FCY issues

Magnussen started second and dropped to third when Nielsen overtook him. He remained third until the first full course yellow of the race.

When the race went green again, the speed limiter that controls a car’s speed under yellow did not correctly un-engage, causing the Dane to drop him third to ninth until he managed to get the car back up speed. At the first round of pitstops, he handed the car over to Raffaele Marciello, and now runs 15th.

JOTA-run Cadillacs fall back

The two JOTA-run Cadillacs started fourth and fifth, with Will Stevens in the #12 and Earl Bamber in the #38. Stevens was tagged by a fast-starting Habsburg at turn 1, who went from ninth to fourth, putting the Cadillac back to 12th.

Bamber ran fifth, behind Habsburg, until the Austrian overtook him. However, while passing James Cottingham’s #59 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3, he misjudged the space available, with bronze-rated Cottingham inadvertently tagging the Cadillac. Bamber spun and was relegated back to 17th.

As such, Bamber now runs sixth after the pitstops, and Stevens 12th. The two Toyotas, Mike Conway in the #7 is ahead of Sebastien Buemi in the #8. Ferdinand Habsburg is back where he started in ninth, while the #93 Peugeot of Paul di Resta is tenth.

McLaren 1-2 in LMGT3

In LMGT3, United Autosports lead 1-2, with James Cottingham in the #59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo ahead of teammate Darren Leung in the sister #95.

They started 1-2 but were soon overtaken Arnold Robin in the #78 Lexus RC F GT3. Robin extended a small lead to the McLarens, but he lost this at the pitstops with the McLarens retaking their 1-2.

Cottingham has a 3.6 second lead on Leung, who has a 7 second lead over Robin in the #378 ASP Lexus. Fourth is Ahmad Al Harthy in the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3, while fifth is the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

See standings after an hour here.

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